"Your movements are too slow, the enemy would have struck you down by now." Nina, observing Naruto's speed.

He was learning techniques to boost his speed and was just getting the hang of it. She had reasoned that Minato would have liked his son to be as quick as he was and planned to eventually teach him the Flying Raijin, something she learned from Tobirama and had seen Minato perform once before.

"Got it!" Naruto narrowed his eyes in concentration, hands flying through the correct seals. "Renovation jutsu!" His body instantly became lighter and he ran towards a large tree. He was able to run up the tree at a considerable speed and landed on a low branch, staring at Nina hopefully.

"Better. That's enough for today, go home." She dismissed, turning and disappearing behind a line of trees.

Naruto smiled proudly and jumped off the branch, heading home as well.

Nina lay flat on her bed, eyes closed, her mind wandered.

She thought about when the next Hokage would come into power, it had been well over a month since Hiruzen had passed, she had even went to see his grave after the funeral. She spoke with him for a bit, something she tended to do when visiting lost friends. Though she knew there was no need to make peace with anything, though she wished that she could have told him the truth about herself, he deserved to know.

A chuckle escaped her lips. He must have believed that she was old and close to death, given that she was an adult when he was a child.

If only that were true.

She thought about how Kushina was still adamant about keeping Naruto away from his training, and though she hadn't spoken to her in person, people around the village seem to think that it was only a matter of time before she would snap.

She thought about how Naruto was greatly improving. In the last six months, he's gone from barely being able to identify his own chakra to perfectly executing a wide variety of jutsus. She certainly swa great things for him in the future.

Nina was content with thinking about these things. All she needed to do was not think about the problem at hand, all she needed to do was hold off on taking action.

But she couldn't.

That humanoid creature, that boy from the pit, and him...

What was really going on?

"Sensei! Did you hear? The academy students are graduating today!" Naruto exclaimed after training one day.

Nina turned her attention to him.

"Is that so? I suppose that means your Uchiha friend is finishing his basic training, yes?" She recalled the young boy from that day Naruto had spoken to him.

"Yea! And since the graduation is in a few hours, I was wondering if you could come with me!" He asked.

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Why would that be necessary?" She questioned.

Naruto stared at the ground, twiddling his thumbs.

"Well... you know... I kinda told Sasuke that I would be there and since he still doesn't believe I have a sensei I said you would be coming along..." He mumbled quickly.

"Naruto." She began.

"I know! It's wrong to make promises I can't guarantee but could you pleeeease come to the ceremony?" He squeezed his eyes shut and clasped his hands in front of him.

Nina sighed heavily.

"Never again do I wish to be involved in anything like this, understood?"

Naruto smiled and nodded furiously.

"Thanks sensei!"

Two hours later, Nina arrived at the academy where the graduation was to take place. She saw that many people were already there, Naruto among them. He waved enthusiastically and she walked over to him, already regretting having agreed to this.

The ceremony soon began and the students lined up on the stage, each was handed a standard leaf shinobi forehead protector, and a speech that she assumed was usually given by the Hokage was instead given by the chief elder.

For the entire time the ceremony dragged on, Nina felt a pair of eyes on her...

"Thanks again for coming, sensei!" Naruto smiled after the graduation came to a close. "Did you see the look on Sasuke's face when he saw you? I proved him wrong, believe it!" He jumped up and down, celebrating his victory.

Nina only shook her head at his behavior.

"I assume that I am free to go now." She stood up from her seat and nodded a goodbye.

"See ya tomorrow, sensei!" Naruto waved with a wide grin on his face.

While making her was towards a lesser used path, one she hadn't used for a while because of her general absence from the village, she got the same feeling she did during the ceremony.

Someone was watching her.

The chakra was undoubtedly one of an Uchiha, and a strong one at that. Their chakra channels were active and controlled, their reserve was abnormally large, and they seemed very quick as well.

She stopped walking.

"Won't you please make yourself known?" She called to the cold night air.

A rustle of leaves sounded from behind her as she felt the pressure of an unfamiliar chakra source.

"May I help you?" She asked without turning around.

"You are not from the village." The voice, a man's, stated from behind her.

"I don't suppose you follow every traveler you come across." She mused.

"You're using a genjutsu on yourself, and most travelers also don't attend academy graduations in foreign villages."

Now she was amused. The genjutsu she put on herself was strong but light, meaning it was no easy thing to detect. She used it to block any previous memory that someone might have of her, preventing recognition. She, of course, made it so that Naruto would not be affected.

"You have impressive skills for your age. Do tell me, what is it that you want?" She inquired.

"I want to know why you were there." He stated blandly.

She almost chuckled at his uptight attitude, it almost reminded her of another Uchiha she once knew.

"Don't worry. I have no ill intentions."

He remained quiet for a while before Nina decided it was about time to go. She wouldn't want to be noticed by anyone else.

"Well, a pleasure meeting you, Uchiha, but I'm afraid that I must take my leave now." She disappeared just as the last words left her mouth.

"Sensei!" Naruto ran around the edge of the village, still in his pajamas.

It was an hour before their lessons would begin but he needed to ask her about something.

"Sensei!" All he knew was that she didn't live in the central apartments of the village nor did she live in a clan compound, leaving him to search much of the outer edges of the village. There were houses dotting the outskirts but none seemed to be occupied. He was breathing heavily but pushed himself to keep going, he really needed to find her. He passed yet another abandoned little cabin. Remembering that it was the one where a supposed witch resided, he made sure to keep a good distance away from it, just in case.

"Sensei!"

An hour later, Naruto sat limply in the familiar training field.

He bolted up upon seeing a familiar head of white hair.

"Why do you look so tired?" Nina questioned immediately upon seeing his messy hair and frantic breathing.

"Last night I had this weird dream." He ignored the question, desperately wanting to explain the dream before he forgot. "I was in the village but it wasn't really a village yet, there was only a foundation, like it was just being built, and there were a lot of people there and they were building houses and compounds and the Hokage Tower too!" He exclaimed.

"And?" Nina raised an eyebrow.

"You were there! I think I was talking to you, and there was this guy with spiky black hair with us, but I don't know who he is." He paused and looked down. "It felt so real! I could have sworn I was really there, it was like I was really seeing all the things from the dream!"

Nina suddenly became grim, her brows creased and her fingers twitched slightly.

"Don't worry too much, it was just a dream." She said, tone unchanged. "Now let's begin." There was clearly no room for argument.

By the end of the day, Naruto had completely forgotten about the dream and was in an especially good mood. He had managed to perform his first offensive jutsu, the Firefly Needle. It created a swarm of fire 'bugs' that would all shoot towards the target. He was only able to create a dozen or so of the bugs at a time but was excited regardless. Nina even had commended him on being a quick learner which only served to further brighten his mood.

"I suppose it's beneficial to reward good behavior, I'll treat you to dinner." She decided.

Naruto's eyes widened as a smile quickly spread across his face.

"Really?! Thanks sensei!" It's been almost a year since he's started training under Nina and never had she offered anything like this before.

He decided that he wanted to get ramen that night and so the two walked to the small shop that he stated was "the best place ever".

"You certainly enjoy this place." Nina mused as she watched the boy finish his second bowl of ramen.

"Yup!" He said through a mouthful of noodles. "You should try some!" He noticed the lack of food in front of her.

She shook her head.

"Don't worry about me." She wasn't particularly fond of ramen, in all honesty.

Loud chattering from outside seemed to draw closer to the shop. The cloth above the door lifted and two people entered the shop, each taking a seat. One was the same man that Nina had encountered at the teahouse during that rainstorm a few months ago and the other was a younger woman, blonde with a purple diamond on her forehead. The blonde woman sat next to Nina and the man sat next to the woman, and given that there were only four stools in the shop, there was little space between them.

It was at this point that Nina silently scolded herself for not casting a better genjutsu. The one she used only caged visual memories that were older than forty years, she thought that was sufficient to deter most people who she didn't want to interact with, but she really didn't want to speak to that man again.

As if on cue, the white haired man noticed her.

"Oh! Yoshikawa-san, right? Odd seeing you here." He waved energetically, causing the blonde to turn as well.

"Jiraiya-san." Nina greeted through grit teeth.

"Did you see Konoha's beauty and decide to stay longer?" He laughed loudly. "Ah, this is my long time friend, Tsunade. Tsunade, this is Yoshikawa Ia, she's a traveler, we met during that downpour a few months ago." He introduced.

Tsunade stared at Nina for a moment before offering a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Yoshikawa-san." They shook hands and nodded at one another respectfully.

"Same to you. I was just leaving, there's something I need to tend to. Take care." Nina quickly paid for the boy's ramen and ducked out of the restaurant.

Naruto watched in confusion for a moment before chasing after her.

Jiraiya blinked at her odd behavior and laughed heartily.

"Young people today, we'll never understand them!" He exclaimed.

Tsunade didn't seem to hear him as she stared at the retreating back of the white haired woman, she seemed to be deep in thought, brows furrowed in concentration. Jiraiya gave her a questioning look.

"Tsunade?"

She snapped out of her trance, turning her head towards him.

"Hm?"

"You alright?"

"Oh, yea."

"You were in a daze for a second there."

"Yea, yea. Anyways, you were talking about the death of the Fourth. What were you saying about a new Hokage?"

"Right, well I've already recommended someone to the council. Things should be evening out soon."

"I'm home." Naruto called while kicking off his shoes.

"Welcome back." Kushina called from somewhere in the house.

She hadn't been too happy with him ever since she learned that he was training to become a shinobi but things between then weren't too bad unless the topic was brought up.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that I'll be going on a mission tonight." She emerged from atop the stairs and made her way down. "It should just be for a day or two."

"Good luck." He smiled brightly and headed upstairs after saying goodnight.

It was around nine the next morning and Naruto had told Nina about his mother's mission. She immediately knew something was wrong. From what Naruto had told her, Kushina was going alone and was headed north of the Land of Fire, likely the Hidden Sound Village considering Konoha's current situation. Nina knew enough about the this village to know that no shinobi was supposed to go on any mission alone, not even anbu captains were legally allowed to go on solo missions.

After training that day, she decided to do some research, meaning she would have to borrow a few records.

Late that night, when she was sure that no one was in the building, Nina slipped into the Hokage Tower and silently made her way through the semi-familiar halls. It had been a while since she's been here, the last time must have been over a decade ago, and there had certainly been some modifications made to the tower. It took some time for her to find the storage room but when she did, she opened the door with minimal trouble and began searching through the files that documented all the missions that had ever been assigned. She searched for the newest ones, looking for Kushina's name, though she couldn't seem to find the file she needed.

Nina reasoned that the most recent missions were kept in a different place, she moved to the Hokage's office, which seemed to be more of a committee room as there were multiple chairs on one side of the long, curved table. She looked through the filing cabinets and quickly found the document she was looking for.

Destination: The Village Hidden in the Sound

Shinobi: Uzumaki Kushina

Duration: Minimum of 5 hours, maximum of 24 hours

It was the next line that made her freeze.

Purpose: Suicide mission

She didn't read anything after that, all she could do was stand motionlessly, unable to understand what she had just read. Kushina was a loyal shinobi but there was no possible way that she would have agreed to go on that mission if she knew it meant her death, her son was too important to her. So she didn't know about the mission's real purpose?

What would the village have against her? Had she done something so terrible that she needed to be sent off and killed? Regardless of the reason, Nina knew she needed to intervene somehow. She didn't know exactly where in the sound village Kushina would be heading nor when she was leaving, the woman could already be gone for all she knew. There was little other information on the document that could help so with her limited information, Nina turned and hurried out of the tower.

Deciding that watching the village gate was her best chance at catching Kushina before she left, the woman remained motionless by the large iron doors, the guards on the outside joked and chattered lightheartedly, perfectly unaware of her presence.

It wasn't until nine o'clock that evening that Kushina approached the gate, a small pack with her. She greeted the guards and told them she was heading on a mission, the two men opened the gates and wished her luck. Nina took this chance to jump over the wall and past the guards.

During the journey to the Sound, Nina kept a good distance behind Kushina, being sure to keep her chakra fully hidden as to not be detected.

The massive black gates of the Sound village came into view at around noon.

Here came the difficult part, Nina would have to figure out a way to keep herself out of Kushina's sight while they were inside the village. She contemplated her choices and settled on keeping herself invisible with a genjutsu, Kushina's senses would be dulled by the amount of unfamiliar chakra sources in the village so a light one should work just fine.

The redhead took a small scroll from her backpack and stared at it for a while. She needed to find a building called the Regimen Spa, they were the ones who sent a request to Konoha about a persistent group of bandits who had looted the spa multiple times in the past, it seems there weren't enough shinobi in the Sound to take care of it so the owner had turned to Konoha for help.

After asking around, Kushina found a large stone building outside of the village center, there were wooden rooms connected to the building which she assumed were the hot springs. Regimen Spa was printed in bold letters on a sign next to the building entrance, indicating that she had found the right place.

Pushing open the large door, Kushina was greeted by a short, older looking woman with white streaks in her dark hair.

"You must be from Konoha." She spoke with a grateful smile. "Please have a seat. I apologize for the lack of information you were given, but please understand that it was to keep this interaction as safe as possible. Allow me to explain. Around a month ago, two strange men approached this spa, I assumed they were simply travelers looking for a place to rest, but they seemed more interested in getting information about one of my employees, Takeo. I told them I could not give them the information they needed but they kept coming back, always asking about Takeo. They began threatening the spa and my family, saying that I had one week to get the information they needed or they would destroy everything precious to me. That was four days ago. I sent the mission request to the Leaf Village right after they left."

Kushina took a second to soak up what he was saying. She spoke slowly.

"Miss, I was told that I was to get rid of some bandits that had robbed this spa..." Yet there seems that there were no robberies nor bandits.

The woman sighed and her expression shifted to one of guilt.

"I was worried that the mission would not have been considered a priority unless I exaggerated a bit. Please, you must help me! I can't lose him, Takeo is my only son!"

Normally Kushina would have immediately denied the request and report her learnings back to Konoha, as it was standard practice to abandon missions that was put in with false information. She knew she should have left right then and there, but something made her stay. Her brow furrowed as she weighed her options.

"Alright. I'll help."